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Arian Schuster's review of 'June 30th, June 30th'
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Review of June 30th, June 30th

by Arian Schuster?

A collection of eighty brief poems, several just fragments — written from May 13 to June 30th on a visit Brautigan made to Japan, somewhat in the spirit of a memorial or journey for the Japanese and American war dead. In a forward?, Brautigan describes the death of a young uncle at Pearl Harbor, his early anti-Japanese attitude and subsequent awakening to things Japanese as the partial promptings for the visit which brought forth the book of poetry. Like so many literary journeys, it becomes a point of departure for an exploration of the self in relation to the world of the nonself. The Brautigan wit is fleetingly present, but there is a haunting feeling of loneliness in the poetry — a sense of a stranger in a strange land — that ultimately makes Japan seem like a metaphor for alienation. Brautigan fans may like this; but he has moved away from the concerns of the young adult, and if one already has Brautigan books, skip this one.


Young Adult Cooperative Book Review Group of Massachusetts?
December 1978



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